Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1870

c8.1870

3) Place of birth. Evidences are lacking to correctly fix the birth-place of Pāṇini. Many pandits believe that Pāṇini was born in the village of Śālātura in the city of Attock in the state of Gāndhāra. But Pāṇini has spent the major portion of his life in Pāṭaliputra. So some pandits are of opinion that only the ancestors of Pāṇini belonged to the village of Śālātura and Pāṇini was born and brought up in Pāṭaliputra. Jaimini and Bhartṛhari have stated that Pāṇini was a Śiṣṭa. Śiṣṭas were brahmins well-versed in the Śāstras and devoid of earthly pleasures who inhabited the area surrounded by the Himālayas in the north, Kālakavana (Bengal) in the east, Vindhya mountains in the south and the Ādarśa (Aravalli mountains) in the west.